Medium – Audiobook
About the Book – Fleetwood Shuttleworth is 17 years old, married to the local Lord of the Manor, and is pregnant for the fourth time. All her previous pregnancies have ended in miscarriage or stillbirth, and Fleetwood is desperate to produce an heir for her husband. One day, she finds a letter from a doctor suggesting that her current pregnancy may kill her, and she descends into a depression, only saved by the arrival of Alice Grey, who quickly becomes her midwife, friend and confidant. The book takes place during the Pendle Witch Trials and Alice is arrested for being a witch. Fleetwood is determined to save Alice, as well as saving herself.
My Thoughts – This book is one of the first I have read by Stacey Halls, although I have another of her audiobooks, The Foundling, in my audible library to listen to. The Familiars uses real life people who were part of the Pendle witch trials and Lancashire in the 1600s and shows the unfairness and injustice that surrounded the trying of witches at the time. It is impossible not to feel pity towards Alice, who is so obviously innocent and arrested because of the machinations of a jealous man, together with the other women who have also been arrested with her. Alice is a really interesting character and I really enjoyed reading about her, although, like the real life Alice, plenty is left unsaid and unknown at the end of the book.
Fleetwood is also a really interesting character, and she undergoes a transformation through the book, from the timid dutiful wife to the woman who knows exactly what she wants and comes up with ways to get it. Her change is one of the defining parts of the book, and I really enjoyed reading about it. The audible narration of this book was also excellent – the narrator used a soft, Lancashire accent for the narration, which was just the right choice and was both pleasant to listen to and felt like it fitted the novel.
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